Los Angeles Times

Flight of the jellyfish, eel and barnacle along the California coast

BODEGA BAY, Calif. - Marine biologist Jacqueline Sones was strolling along a beach near this Northern California fishing village one foggy summer morning when she spotted an unfamiliar jellyfish bobbing in the surf.

Her curiosity turned to shock, however, when she opened a field guide and identified the creature with a white bowl-shaped bell, vivid stripes and long tentacles.

"I'd discovered something unprecedented," Sones recalled Monday. "It was a purple-striped jellyfish."

While the impressively hued Chrysaora colorata is no stranger to Southern California, or Monterey Bay for that matter, it had never been recorded

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times3 min read
Universal Studios Tram Tossed 'Multiple' Riders To The Ground, Accident Investigators Say
LOS ANGELES — A tram vehicle at Universal Studios Hollywood threw "multiple" riders to the ground after it struck a guardrail near props from the "Jurassic Park" film franchise in an accident that is under investigation by the California Highway Patr
Los Angeles Times4 min read
George Skelton: California's Budget Relies On The Richest Taxpayers, And We're Paying The Price
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Borrowing an old bromide, when the stock market sneezes, California's state government catches pneumonia. It's more than a common cold when the state coughs up billions of buckets in red ink. Wall Street recently has exhibited
Los Angeles Times5 min read
Avian Flu Outbreak Raises A Disturbing Question: Is Our Food System Built On Poop?
If it’s true that you are what you eat, then most beef-eating Americans consist of a smattering of poultry feathers, urine, feces, wood chips and chicken saliva, among other food items. As epidemiologists scramble to figure out how dairy cows throug

Related Books & Audiobooks